For those of you who are wondering what we heard back from MD Anderson-well we still haven't heard back! MD Anderson is wonderful at what they do which is treating cancer patients and being on the leading edge of doing so. What they are not wonderful about is getting back with you in a real timely manner. That can be frustrating when you are like me and want immediate results, but I am confident that we will hear back before the weeks end. Of course once I know-you will know.
Joel is finally able to keep food down-thank goodness. Last week was a really difficult week for us. I think it's been hard on Joel because he had taken that long mid-point break. His hair started to grow back and his body regain a bit of strength. It has been difficult on us both to get back into the chemo-groove when we are so desperate to just be done already. It has been especially difficult for Joel. He has been off work and at home since June of last year. That is 10 months of mostly being home all the time! I don't know how he does it. I can't go more than 24 hours staying at home. But I think that for him it's just all wearing on him-emotionally, physically, mentally. We are finding this last half to be really difficult so far-to be honest. But one thing about us-we will keep chugging along until we get to that finish line. And my how wonderful it will be to cross it.

Today was an exciting day for us as I met with our CPA to get started on the paperwork for our Non-Profit foundation! If you look at the post that I wrote on January 1st (Titled "Beauty Will Rise") I talked about our plans to open up a foundation to give money back to cancer patients as well as raising money to give to hospitals who do cancer research and development. There was some preliminary set-up paperwork that we have been working on but today we took the first step to getting incorporated. I have another appointment with him on Monday to start on a very long tax form that's supposed to take 4-8 hours to complete! All of this paperwork is pretty overwhelming and it was kind of a crazy idea to get started on it while Joel is still in chemo-but we wanted to get everything going so we can start fundraising immediately. Did I mention I'm also planning a party for Joel once he is through with chemo? As if we don't already have enough going on ;)

Hope you all are having a great week. I still feel like I am mourning the loss of my hour. What can I say? I love my sleep!

Sarah Rodriguez Rhodes

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Ellis Update: Today was a hard morning, guys. We got to the hospital & things just felt all wrong. I don’t know how to explain it other than that. Then the anesthesiologist had issues with some secretions Ellis was having that we were told amplified her risk during the surgery while under anesthesia. Given the past things we’ve walked through, we just decided it wasn’t a risk we were at all willing to take. So we made the decision to go home, re-group & do the surgery another day. Since the surgery is elective we had our medical teams full support in this decision. We are home now & doing well. This wasn’t an easy decision to make. For months we’ve prepared mentally, emotionally, schedule-wise, financially etc for this day. But we have to be lead by peace. And if those giving her medical care also weren’t completely at peace, it just wasn’t the right time, for whatever reason. I don’t always understand the “why” but I won’t always & I’m ok with that. We appreciate your prayers & promise to keep you informed of when her surgery will be in the coming months. Also, the day wasn’t a complete loss...Ellis did get to hang with the cute hospital dog-so at least that part was a win ☺️ Looking for some kind of humor-it’s been a rough day.

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